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Thursday, 10 July 2014

IN the days when
not many youngsters from military families are joining the services, a young
girl from Mohali has opted to carry forward her family’s military legacy. Lt
Gursheen Dhillon has become a fourth generation officer in her family. Recently
commissioned into the Army Service Corps, she is at present posted in Sikkim.

Her father, Col GS
Dhillion, an Ordnance Officer, had joined the Army in 1987 and is still in
service. Her great grandfather, Risaldar Nand Singh, had served with the 1st
Lancers of the Patiala State Forces for 21 years, after which her grandfather,
Col Surinder Singh, responded to the call of arms and joined the Army as an
Emergency Commissioned Officer in 1963, serving till 1987. “Gursheen, the elder
of the two sisters, had always been mesmerised by the olive green. Her father
was keen that she joined the Air Force, but she went in for the Army,” Col Surinder
Singh said.

Lt Gen Gurmeet
Singh is Adjutant General

Lt Gen Gurmeet
Singh is new Adjutant General at the Army Headquarters. Prior to this, he was
the General Officer Commanding, 15 Corps, at Srinagar for about a year. Lt Gen
Subrata Saha has taken over from him as the Corps Commander. Commissioned into
the Assam Regiment, Lt Gen Gurmeet has had several operational tenures in Jammu
and Kashmir, having commanded a brigade and a counter-insurgency force in the
state.

As Adjutant
General, he would be among the Principal Staff Officers to the Army Chief and
responsible for manpower planning, discipline and vigilance, ceremonials,
welfare and other administrative matters.

Molestation: AFT
upholds Major General’s conviction

Six years after a
general court martial (GCM) had dismissed a Major General for allegedly
molesting a woman officer under his command, the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT)
has upheld the conviction, but modified the sentence of “dismissal from
service” to “deemed removal”. In 2007, a woman Captain posted at Leh had
alleged that Maj Gen AK Lal, then General Officer Commanding 3 Infantry
Division, had inappropriately touched her while conducting meditation sessions
at his residence. The GCM, presided by Lt Gen RS Sujlana, GOC 10 Corps, had held
Lal guilty of all four charges leveled against him, though he had refuted them.

He had challenged
the verdict before the AFT, which ruled that in view of Lal’s previous record
and since it appeared that he committed a momentary lapse, it would be harsh to
forfeit his retirement dues.

Army Chief’s
farewell visit to Kargil

A few days before
he hangs up his uniform, Chief of the Army Staff, Gen Bikram Singh, would be
visiting Kargil, where he is expected to lay a wreath at the war memorial at
Dras. The war memorial is located at the base of many strategic peaks like
Tiger Hill, Rhino Horn, Point 5149, Point 5240, Sando Top and Tololing, that
had seen some of the most intense battle during the conflict.

Army sources said
he would be visiting the 1999 battleground on July 24, two days before the Army
publicly commemorates the Kargil Vijay Diwas. During the conflict 15 years ago,
Gen Bikram Singh was then a Colonel posted at the Military Operations
Directorate at the Army Headquarters and the Army’s official spokesperson on
the conflict who used to conduct daily media briefings in New Delhi. Before his
Kargil visit, the Chief is also scheduled to visit Jammu, Udhampur and Srinagar
as part of his farewell tour.

Army media outlets
meet Chinese counterparts

It was a
one-of-its-kind interaction in New Delhi when media-information outlets of the
Indian Army met their Chinese counterparts last week. A six-member delegation
of the People's Liberation Army of China, media cell, held talks with the
Indian delegation led by Lt Gen Bobby Mathews, the Additional Director General
(public interface) of the Indian Army. The delegation from Beijing was led by
Senior Colonel Geng Yansheng, Chief of Information Affairs Bureau of the
Ministry of National Defence of China, and it had some questions on how open
the media in India was and how matters about the three forces get reported. The
Indian side took pains to explain that unlike China, where media was state
controlled, the media in India was more of a free-wheeling entity and wrote and
broadcast what it felt was in public interest.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140710/edit.htm#1

Govt must
declassify Henderson Brooks Report

Last March, while
in opposition, Arun Jaitley vehemently demanded declassification of the Henderson
Brooks-PS Bhagat Report that has examined the Army's reverses suffered during
the 1962 Sino-Indian war. Mr Jaitley voiced his demand - both verbally and in
the form of an article - after former Australian journalist Neville Maxwell
posted most of the report on the website. Now four months later, as Defence
Minister, Mr Jaitley has done a U-turn by announcing in Parliament that the
disclosure of any information related to this report will not be in national
interest.

The surprising
turnaround raises two issues. One, politicians have a different voice when in
opposition and can be both quick and unabashed to do a complete reversal when
in government. Two, the fact that the government under every political
dispensation in the last two-and-a-half decades has consistently stonewalled
the release of the report reflects that either there is something serious to
hide or the government is being obsessively secretive. Lieut-Gen Thomas Bryan
Henderson Brooks, an Anglo-Indian officer in the Indian Army, along with Brig
(later Lieut-Gen) Premindra Singh Bhagat were assigned by the then Army Chief
to conduct an 'Operations Review' soon after the war ended. The terms of
references were confined to examining 'training, equipment, system of command,
physical fitness of the troops and the capacity of commanders at all levels to
influence the men under their command'. They were specifically asked not to
review the functioning of both Army Headquarters and the Ministry of Defence.

Yet, the report
continues to be classified even though 52 years have elapsed and the scenario
has completely changed. Although the two countries continue to have a serious
border dispute, India today is far more confident and powerful than it was in
1962. It has stronger economic relations with China as also bilateral
agreements in place to prevent a flare-up on the borders. It is imperative that
the government release the Henderson Brooks report and all other unpublished
war histories and reports on military campaigns at the end of a reasonable time
frame. Else, the adage that those who do not learn from history are condemned
to repeat it could forever remain true for the Indian military establishment
and policy-makers.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140710/main5.htm

VVIP copter deal:
CBI quizzes AP Governor

New Delhi, July 9

The CBI today
examined AP Governor ESL Narasimhan, former Director of the Intelligence
Bureau, as witness in connection with bribery allegations in the purchase of 12
VVIP helicopters from Ango-Italian firm AgustaWestland.

CBI officials
recorded Narasimhan’s statement at the Raj Bhawan in Hyderabad. He was
questioned on change in service ceiling of the helicopters, sources said.
Narasimhan, who was questioned for over three hours, is the third Governor be
examined as a witness, sources said.

Sources said
Narasimhan, then National Security Adviser MK Narayanan and then SPG Chief BV
Wanchoo had attended the meeting decision to reduce service ceiling was taken.
— TNS

Nepal Army seeks
two advanced light helicopters from India at subsidised price

KATHMANDU: Nepal has sought to acquire two
advanced light helicopters (ALHs) from India on subsidised price and New Delhi
has taken the request positively, Foreign Ministry sources here said today.

Nepal Army's
request to buy two HAL-made Dhruv choppers came during the two-day meeting of
'Nepal-India Bilateral Consultative Group (BCG) on Security Issues' that
concluded in Kathmandu yesterday, the sources said.

The Indian side
took Nepal's request positively, the sources said.

However, detailed
work out of the procurement of the choppers has to be carried out by both the
sides.

Earlier, India had
provided two ALHs to the Nepal Army temporarily during the second Constituent
Assembly elections held in November last year to carry out monitoring of the
elections.

Sharing of
military intelligence information for stepping up border security mechanism were
also discussed during the meeting.

Officials from
both the countries also discussed each other's security concerns during the
meetings.

Nepal has sought
resumption of supply of military hardware from government of India, which was
halted during the absolute rule by then King Gyanendra in February 2005, when
civil rights were suspended.

India has provided
some of the defence materials as per the request made by Nepal over the past
couple of months and more supplies are in the pipeline, according to Nepal Army
sources.

These military
equipments were supplied by India at 60 per cent subsidy and 40 per cent cash
payment.

However, it is not
clear whether India would supply the choppers on the basis of same principle or
not, a Foreign Ministry official said.

"However, we
are asking for the subsidy which was applied in previous military
supplies," said the Foreign Ministry sources.

Details of the
talks and negotiations made between the two sides during the bilateral meeting
were not disclosed to the press by both the Nepal Army as well as the Foreign
Ministry.